F1: 2017 Russian GP Practice – Williams Martini Racing

28/04/2017

Russian GP Practice

Objectives: Aero evaluations, set-up and tyre work.

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It’s been a sunny Friday at the Sochi Autodrom and a good day on both sides of the garage as we had no problems on either car and completed our planned programmes. Felipe ran a more conventional programme, using all three tyre compounds on both high and low fuel, as well as conducting some aerodynamic experiments. For Lance, the focus was on learning the circuit as this is a track he hasn’t driven before, and he made good progress through the day. We chose to run two sets of super soft tyres with him in FP2, giving him a more consistent tyre with one less variable. We have lots of interesting data in terms of tyre performance and endurance. There is still a lot of work to do tonight. We look forward to competing strongly tomorrow.

Felipe Massa: It was a good day for us. The car felt good on track, in the morning and the afternoon, on short runs and long runs, on old tyres and new tyres. So I would say I am quite happy with the balance and the way the tyres are working, and the degradation is very low, much lower than other tracks and was quite good for our long run. I was happy with the day. I really hope we can have a strong weekend, but we will see.

Lance Stroll: It is a bit strange here as it is not one timed lap and then the tyre goes away, it builds up a lot. So we need to figure out how to deliver the lap time when the tyre is at its best. There is still improvement to come, and that is generally from my side, as it is my first time here and I am just getting the car set up the way I want. And I didn’t use the ultra softs as I am saving them for tomorrow. That will give me a much better feeling and I will try to get in some good runs. We have not decided our strategy for the race yet, but it is low grip here and the degradation doesn’t look high, so we will have to see what approach is best.